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The choir invincible
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by ERIK LEIJON It’s no accident the Presets’ Apocalypso packs an aural assault befitting the end of days. Although coming from perpetually sunny and carefree Sydney, Australia, the electronic dance duo’s sophomore release was inspired by the dark final days in office of former Aussie Prime Minister John Howard. “The record was about how, in spite of some pretty horrible times that people live in, we all still have the ability to dance and fuck and love,” says lead singer/keyboardist Julian Hamilton. “Howard was a very divisive leader who was devoid of any morals, and his 11 years in power [1996-2007] did a lot of damage to the moral fabric of the country. “The album was written towards the end of his leadership, and it was a time when… it didn’t necessarily feel like the end of the world, but a lot of us were wondering what was going on with our planet. That’s why we wanted to make a party record for the end of times.” In order to reflect the desperate times Hamilton and drummer Kim Moyes found themselves in, the more experimental, less cohesive electropop of their debut, 2005’s Beams, gave way to icier, starker beats and a much more consistent, near rave-quality sound. It’s not a concept album in the traditional sense, but Apocalypso was written as a highly homogenous, consistently loud and punchy dance record. “Beams was really just us screwing around, making music and putting together a record without too much thought. It was put together through pieces of our demo and EPs. This new record was an opportunity to create something fresh because we had a completely clean slate. We were conscious of trying to make the production cleaner, and to maintain a unified sound.” Since the duo had been touring in support of Beams for three years, Hamilton and Moyes had developed a good sense of what worked live and what didn’t. They brought that knowledge to the Apocalypso recording sessions, hoping they could emulate the energy of concert favourites “Are You the One?” and “I Go Hard, I Go Home” for an entire record. One aspect they wanted to change was Hamilton’s auto-tuned vocals, which were often mixed and cut beyond recognition. “The first record was not very melodically driven. I guess the second time around, I wanted to create more interesting melodies for myself to sing, and make things a little juicier to perform. I’ve been doing a lot of songwriting with other bands in between the two records, and I think during that time, I fell in love with melody all over again.” Hamilton admits he tended to shout most of his vocals on Beams, which didn’t put his choirboy experience to much use. Not only was he singing in choirs as a schoolboy, he and Moyes originally met while studying classical music at the Sydney Conservatorium of Music. Even though they make dance music, enduring a strict regimen of recitals and practice has helped them in their current trade. Hamilton says it’s made them perfectionists in both the studio and on stage. “Definitely our training got us in the right headspace to produce music on our own and not need a third party to come in and kick us in the ass. Also, coming from live recitals, performing live means being in the moment—nailing every note, every phrase, every dynamic. Everything had to be bang on, and we’re still conscious about that today.” WITH CUT COPY AND KORDAN AT |
